When Cashford first qualified as a BDO he was given to understand that his life expectancy was just four weeks; but he and his colleagues developed techniques and procedures that are still used today. There was little safety equipment, and Cashford went about his task dressed in seaboots and oilskins, and carrying a canvas tool bag and a torch.

For a man whose life depended on his technical skills, the cool calculation of risk, and methodical procedure, Cashford was unusually sensitive to the supernatural: on several occasions he claimed to have seen ghosts, among them the “grey lady” in the Chalk Walk at Greenwich.

He also believed that he was under the protection of a guardian angel whom he credited with once saving his life . During the most dangerous phases of disarming a mine, Cashford preferred to work alone, and would send his crew to brew tea from the safety of cover. One night he had scooped a pit under a German Y-type mine, containing 1000lb of explosive, which was resting upside down on a beach. He was reaching inside it to withdraw the detonator when a wave broke over him, filling the pit with shingle and salt water and rolling the mine on top of him.

Pinned under the mine’s weight, he did not know whether he was going to drown on the incoming tide or be vaporised if the explosive detonated. He remembered praying: “Please, God, get me out of here” — whereupon there was a blinding flash of white light and he was able to push the mine off and scramble to his feet, with the detonator in his hand.

Cashford murmured “Thank you, God” several times while he wrung out his soaked clothing and summoned his crew to complete the job. Afterwards he inspected the mine thoroughly, but could never account for the flash of light.

His busiest period as a BDO was in late 1945, when the gales brought many explosive devices from the Channel and North Sea to the shores of southern England. In one three-day period he rendered safe 57 mines, as well as countless other devices, and saw 10 blow up before he could get to them.

In 1946 he was appointed MBE.

For several years after the war Cashford had difficulty finding employment, but in 1953 he started as a salesman for the Kenning Motor Group in Southampton, later rising to be its training officer. In retirement he gave talks about his wartime experiences, donating his fees to Weston Park Cancer Care Fund in Sheffield.

He established an annual service of remembrance at Aldwick, Bognor Regis, for a wartime colleague, Lt Walter Prior, RNVR, who had been killed there by a floating sea mine in December 1945. Cashford also masterminded the building of a memorial, at Mundesley-on-Sea, Norfolk, to honour the 26 Royal Engineers bomb disposal personnel killed while clearing the Norfolk beaches between 1944 and 1953.

He wrote five books, two of which — All Mine! (2002) and Ticking Clock! (2006) — are autobiographical, and three containing reminiscences of mine disposal experts working during and since the Second World War. The last of these, Courage Beyond Duty, will be published posthumously.

Noel Cashford, who died on January 15, married, in 1945, Brenda Keeler, who survives him with their son; another son died in 1980.